Crash victim makes plea to drivers this holiday season

Nettie Gibson knows one person’s decision to drink and get behind the wheel is another person’s hell.

“If I could change one person’s mind, it would be worth telling my story,” she said.

Gibson was on her way to work last August when a drunk driver hit her on Fifth Avenue in East McKeesport. The intoxicated 63-year-old woman had a blood-alcohol content of 0.23 percent at 8:15 a.m.

It took crews an hour to cut Gibson out from the wreckage, she said.

“My right leg was stuck over the passenger side, the dashboard came down and severed my ankle,” she said.

Doctors told Gibson she could have died. Part of her colon and intestine were removed, her liver lacerated and her reconstructed ankle will never bend. However, she said she was blessed to make it out alive.

Hundreds have been killed because of drunk drivers during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, making it the deadliest Thursday of 2010. In that year, 175 people were killed in drunk driving crashes Thanksgiving week.

The nationwide numbers hit stronger at home. Pennsylvania ranks in the top 15 states with the highest percentage of DUI-related traffic deaths overall.

Gibson said hurting someone or killing someone is ultimately not worth changing someone’s life forever.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Sunday it was "very alarmed" by reports of widespread doping by track and field athletes in major competitions including the Olympic Games and world championships.